In a 2012 survey conducted by Infogroup Targeting Solutions they found that 53 percent of marketers worldwide said they planned to make greater use of real-time data in 2013. In addition, 80 percent of surveyed marketers said they planned to use social media data in their broader marketing efforts. Read Original Content

Using data from Google Analytics, Nielsen, and Experian, Phoenix and NYC-based digital marketing firm iAcquire examined 2012 web traffic and behavioral data across several leading online dating sites. The study’s goal was to determine patterns in online dating around Valentine’s Day. The findings showed online dating traffic doesn’t go up on Valentine’s Day, but actually peaks several days after. Read Original Content

IBM, the number two computer company, has introduced a series of low-cost but powerful computer servers that provide sophisticated data analytics to small businesses with access to a secure cloud. Read Original Content

While social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies add a new dimension to your model, to fully maximize their value consider the sum is greater than its parts. The formula for the Future of Work is called SMAC - social, mobile, analytics and cloud on one integrated stack, where each function enables another to maximize their effect. To learn more about SMAC and Cognizant please visit http://www.cognizant.com/futureofwork/smac. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Cognizant.

IBM reported favorable earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 thanks to year-over-year increases to its cloud services, business analytics, and Smart Planet products. The company reported profits of $5.83 billion for the quarter, which is a six percent increase compared to $5.49 billion during the same period a year ago. Read Original Content

Amazon just released their cloud-based data warehouse service Redshift to the general public after a successful limited release last November. Its target consumer base is start-ups and larger enterprises, and it is garnering raves due to its cost efficiency, which is about one-tenth of most of its competitors. Read Original Content

Gartner expects the market for BigData and analytics to generate $3.7 Trillion in products and services and generate 4.4 million new jobs by 2015. Read Original Content

Acquisitions of cloud and big data firms increased significantly despite an overall decline in mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector last year, according to the latest figures from accounting firm Ernst & Young. Read Original Content

CIO, CTO & Developer Resources

Raytheon Co., the number five defense contractor, has devised powerful new software that tracks individuals via social media posts and GPS that uses analytics to aid governments and security professionals. Read Original Content

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Kevin Benedict is the Senior Analyst for Digital Transformation at Cognizant, a writer, speaker and SAP Mentor Alumnus. Follow him on Twitter @krbenedict. He is a popular speaker around the world on the topic of digital transformation and enterprise mobility.
He maintains a busy schedule researching, writing and speaking at events in North America, Asia and Europe. He has over 25 years of experience working in the enterprise IT solutions industry.

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